Aaron Eckhart recalls run-in with KGB as a teenager

Aaron Eckhart had a run-in with the KGB during a visit to Russia as a teenager.

The Dark Knight actor was born in California, but moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family to Surrey, England. During this time, a young Aaron also lived in France and Switzerland with his family, and also went on an “insane” adventure to Moscow with a friend when he was around 15.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night (31Aug16), the 48-year-old recalled that during his visit to Russia, then part of the secretive Soviet Union, he and his friend had an encounter with the KGB, the nation’s security agency.

“I remember walking down over a bridge in Moscow and this little car pulled up beside us and they said ‘Get in,’” Aaron said. “And my friend and I got in, they took us down under this bridge and they ended up at this little dark bar and they took us out, brought us into the bar, offered us something to drink... and they started asking us questions like, ‘Is it true?’, ‘Is there really work in the West?’”

Aaron then went on to describe another dramatic incident which involved his friend Colin. The star said his pal had an encounter with the police when he tried to escort a young lady he met at a party at their “foreigners-only” hotel to the lobby.

“All of the sudden the door burst open and Colin, my friend, was hysterically crying and says, ‘They took her, they took her, they took her!’” claimed Aaron, adding his friend saw the woman put into a car by two men. “The KGB took her, he jumped on the KGB and tried to wrestle her away from him they dislodged her away from him and took her away. It was insane.”

Aaron segued into the discussion about his terrifying trip, after discussing his thrilling upcoming film Sully, about pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who was hailed as a hero after he successfully executed an emergency water land of a flight in the New York’s Hudson River in 2009.